


Trouble in the Hills

by MYuzuki



Series: Tales of a Nabradian Hunter [2]
Category: Final Fantasy XII
Genre: Atomos Hunt, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Trouble in the Hills
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-02
Updated: 2020-12-02
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:22:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27843682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MYuzuki/pseuds/MYuzuki
Summary: By the time Kaia finally reaches Nalbina, she's tired and cranky and covered in a fine layer of grit from having to detour through the Dalmasca Estersand because of the Imperial blockade that had diverted her from her usual path through the Mosphoran Highwaste.
Series: Tales of a Nabradian Hunter [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2038138
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	Trouble in the Hills

**Author's Note:**

> The events of this drabble correspond to Hunt #17, Trouble in the Hills (the primary difference being that the hunt is done by Kaia, and not Vaan and the party, of course).

**Trouble in the Hills**

* * *

By the time Kaia finally reaches Nalbina, she's tired and cranky and covered in a fine layer of grit from having to detour through the Dalmasca Estersand because of the Imperial blockade that had diverted her from her usual path through the Mosphoran Highwaste.

She doesn't know what the Archadians were doing in the Highwaste but whatever the hell it was had delayed her resupply trip by three damn days, and she is decidedly not thrilled about it.

But whining about it won't help anything, so she takes a moment to shake the sand out of her hair and then moves on wit her life, heading for the West Ward so she can browse the weapons shop and see about upgrading to a better spear' the one she had now had been a sturdy and reliable piece of equipment once upon a time, but a tussle with a massive Humbaba last month had caused some hairline fractures to form in the shaft and she wants to replace it before ti break (especially since her particular flavor of luck would mean a weapon failure at a critical life-or-death moment).

In any case, selling the wolf pelts she'd gotten courtesy of her unwanted field trip through the Estersand nets her enough gil to purchase a Partisan; at almost six thousand gil it's a bit more than she'd been planning to spend right now, but it's such an improvement over the battered javelin she's been using that it's worth the extra money.

Once that's taken care of, she offloads her javelin for a paltry 500 gil (resale price is normally 700, but the merchant helpfully informs her that the damaged shaft drops the value and she's not in the mood to argue about it) and moves on to the armory stall so she can pick up the protective gear that her uncle's been wanting for himself. It takes a bit more haggling to bring the price of the bronze chest-plate down to something she can afford without spending money she needs for other things like curatives and other supplies, but she gets it in the end, paying 350 gil and trading away half a dozen bundles of cockatrice feathers in exchange.

She thanks the merchant, carefully wraps up the chest-plate before stuffing it into her traveling pack, and backtracks to the Jajim Bazaar to peruse the Hunt Board.

After peering at the posted bills for a time, she spots one that piques her interest. _Trouble in the Hills_ , it reads, and speaks of a rampaging Atomos. And apparently the petitioner is right here in Nalbina, too

"Perfect," she says, taking a moment to scrawl the information down in her hunting journal before turning away.

As it turns out, she doesn't have to go very far from the Hunt Board to find the petitioner. Burrogh is a Sanga Bangaa, one that she vaguely recognizes as a local merchant, and she finds him seated by one of the man market stall lining the Jajim Bazaar.

"You're Burrogh?" she asks, striding over to stand in front of him.

"Aye, that I am. Who's asking?"

"Kaia," she replies. "I'm here about the bill you posted." she jerks a thumb over her shoulder at the Hunt Board further down the bazaar. "For the atomos?"

"Ah, that's right, the bill." Burrogh gives a low sigh of frustration. "That atomos has got our caravans stopped cold. I can't lay in any of the goods my customers want, and that's death in my trade. That's why I want you to hunt it, and kill it."

"I accept," she replies, because if the caravans aren't getting through then it's going affect more than just the merchants; the Nabradian refugees who are trying to scrape out a living in Nalbina, _her people_ , are going to be running out of supplies as well. "What can you tell me about it?"

"Well," Burrogh begins, "maybe you know and maybe you don't, but just a while back the Imperials cordoned off the highway leading up to the Mosphoran Highwaste."

"Oh, trust me," Kaia remarks dryly, "I'm well aware of it. That little blockade of theirs added an extra three days to my trip to get here from the Salikawood."

Burrogh gives a tired laugh, expression sympathetic. "A frustrating detour, to be sure. In any case, they was out catching as many slaven wilders as they could get their hands on. Army wanted 'em for some reason or another." He shakes his head with a disgruntled _hmph_. "Well, their hunt's over, but it's sent this atomos into a rampage, seein' as how they get on well with the slaven wilders. And who suffers?" he demands, thumping a fist against the wall in irritation. "The caravans! The Imperials are the ones to blame," he goes on, "but pointin' fingers don't solve problems. Kill this atomos 'fore things get out of hand, girl, and I'll reward you handsomely."

"Consider it handled," Kaia assures him, settling her travel pack a little more securely on her shoulders. "I'll report back to you once the hunt is completed."

Burrogh gives her a curt nod, and then she spins on her heel and walks back through the bazaar towards the West Barbican. Once on the outskirts of the fortress, she bears to the right and keeps walking, until she leaves the dry heat of Nalbina behind and plunges into the Mosphoran Highwaste.

Her hunt begins in the South Skirts of the Highwaste, where she slays five worgen while canvassing the area before moving on to the Summit Path once it becomes obvious that there's no enraged atomos lurking nearby. She's ambushed by three more worgen once she reaches the Summit Path, but quick reflexes and her incredibly sharp Partisan spear are more than enough to match their sharp fangs and jagged claws.

Of course, then she finds herself confronted with a Wary Wolf that erupts out of the underbrush, jaws snapping as it lunges at her, two worgen racing over to join the fray once they catch the scent of blood in the air. This battle ends up a little more frenetic than the previous one, if only because the Wary Wolf is roughly five times as large as the average worgen and therefore it takes a bit of effort to avoid getting bowled over by its sheer size.

She does manage to overcome all three beasts, though, and proceeds on with her sweep of the area. Her search turns up an Aquara mote, 191 gil, and a Fire Elemental that seems content to go on its merry way as long as she doesn't cast any spells in its vicinity. She doesn't want to risk upsetting it with her presence, though, so she quickly hustles towards the Babbling Vale, killing two more worgen along the way and getting a couple hunks of fire magicite and some Nu Khai Sand for her trouble.

She takes a moment to catch her breath at the Babbling Vale, purchasing a couple potions from the merchant caravan that's resting there (she offers them what reassurances she can when it comes to the atomos, which is making them so uneasy that they'd rather spend endless days waiting in the Vale rather than risk traversing the rest of Mosphora), and then moves on, heading up into the Trail of Sky-flung Stone.

Unfortunately, she almost immediately trips into a wizardsbane trap that drains away a significant chunk of her mana, which would be enough of a nuisance all on its own…but then she's accosted by a massive python and has to focus on dodging to the side to avoid its lightning-fast strike, and she belatedly realizes it's going to be One of Those Days.

She dodges a second strike from the python, then quickly stabs her spear forward, catching the snake right in the mouth and sending it reeling back, its death throes leaving bloody furrows in the soil.

Kaia encounters two more pythons after that, and then a trio of vultures that nearly send her tumbling right off the edge of a cliff into a ravine with their vicious swooping attacks. She manages to defeat them with a few well-placed jabs with her spear, and then stumbles down from the upper level of the trail and heads into the Northern Skirts of the Highwaste.

Her arrival is met by a quartet of humbaba that immediately descend upon her with a predatory gleam in their eyes, and she spends the next several moments dodging strikes from their massive clawed hands even as she flings out Fire spells that slam into their torsos and char their flesh, wrenching snarling howls of pain from their throats.

Finally, she succeeds in bringing the group of humbaba down. She doesn't have much time to celebrate her victory, however, because she spots the rabid atomos a moment later, its hulking form almost dazzling in the bright afternoon light, the sunlight glinting off the brilliant gemstones embedded in its back.

As impressive as it appearance is, however, she still needs to take it down. Especially since the beast is clearly enraged to the point of being borderline rabid; the second it spots her it lets loose a fierce bellow that shakes the ground, and comes charging towards her with thundering steps that reverberate through the soil like miniature earthquakes.

The atomos has a size advantage over her, something it seems to be aware of if the way it tries to stomp her flat with its massive feet is any indication. Luckily, her spear coupled with her magick allows her to avoid getting too up close and personal with the creature.

Ultimately, she brings it down with the Aquara mote that she'd scrounged up earlier, although she'd had to whittle away at is health with a flurry of spear strikes and other offensive spells before it had been weak enough to fall to the water spell.

Once the atomos is slain, she does a quick sweep of her immediate surroundings to ensure that she's not about to get ambushed by anymore monsters, then allows herself to slump to the ground and catch her breath, back pressed up against a nearby column of stone with her spear held loosely in one hand as she cranes her head back to look up at the sky, the brilliant blue expanse unmarred except for the thin wispy clouds that are drifting high above the world.

Eventually, she finds the will to move again and hauls herself up off the ground. She forages around for any additional loot she might have missed, and then leaves the way she came, intent on backtracking all the way through the Highwaste until she makes it back to Nalbina.

After all, she has some good news to deliver to Burrogh.

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact: there are four different kinds of Bangaa, which I did not learn until I actually did some extra research on the species! According to the FFXII wiki:"the Bangaa Ruga with yellow-brown skin and shorter ears, the athletic Bangaa Faas with bronze skin, the Bangaa Bista with copper-colored skin, and the Bangaa Sanga with ash-colored skin".


End file.
